Stuart Bascombe is an American singer, songwriter, recording artist, record producer and actor. Bascombe is an original member of the R&B/Soul Vocal Group, Black Ivory who recorded a number of R&B hits in the 1970's including, "Don't Turn Around", "You and I", "Time Is Love", "I'll Find A Way ", and their disco hit, "Mainline".
Early life
Bascombe was born in Harlem, New York and was raised in Harlem and in The Bronx.
History
Career
Bascombe, along with songwriter and prolific disco producer Leroy Burgess, and Russell Patterson released their debut album while still attending High School. Black Ivory was first signed to the East Coast label Today/Perception Records, which was run by record producer, Patrick Adams, who was also the groups manager. Bascombe with his group scored 3 top 40 R&B hits in 1972, including "Don't Turn Around" #38, and "You And I" #32 from their hit debut album, "Don't Turn Around", which peaked at #13 on the Billboard R&B Album Chart in May of 1972. Bascombe is credited as co-writer on four songs from that album. Another single from that album, "I'll Find A Way " peaked at #46 on Billboard R&B Chart. Their single, "Time Is Love" was the third top 40 hit peaking at #37. Other charting singles included, "Spinning Around" #45, "What Goes Around " #44, and "Will We Ever Come Together" #40. Although they recorded several uptempo tracks, such as "Big Apple Rock", "Walking Downtown ", "What Goes Around " and later, "Mainline" with Russell Patterson as lead singer, they were primarily known for sweet soul ballads. June 1, 1974, Bascombe appeared on season three of Soul train and on PBS television show, SOUL! March 1, 1972 with his group Black Ivory. In 1976 Bascombe scored the lead role as Moses in a made for TV children's film "Turkey Treasure" which aired on WABC 7. In 1995 the group reunited and returned to the stage on the Classic Soul circuit, featuring all three original members, with Stuart Bascombe doing most of the leads. They have been performing together ever since.
Recent years
Bascombe is a contributing writer on the single, "Gettin' Up" on Rapper and Musician Q-Tip's album, "The Renaissance", which was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010. In 2011 Bascombe with his group released a Christmas single entitled "Snow", and a CD/album entitled Continuum on their own label, SLR Records LLC. Bascombe is a featured guest in the award winning 2018 documentary, "Mr. Soul!" a film based on the host and executive producer of SOUL!, Ellis Haizlip, the first “black Tonight Show.” In 1968, SOUL! was launched as a local, New York broadcast. In 1969 the series rolled out nationwide on PBS, on WNET Channel 13. Haizlip had produced over 130 hour-long shows featuring a dazzling array of A-list guests. Actor Blair Underwood is the Executive Director and narrator of the film. In October of 2019, Bascombe along with Black Ivory's band-mate, Russell Patterson traveled to the UK and joined Leroy Burgess on stage at the famous London's Jazz Cafe. It was the first time that Black Ivory performed in London together. They were honored with awards to commemorate their 50th Anniversary. In addition, Black Ivory was featured in a 13 page article in the London magazine, The Soul Survivors. As of 2020, Bascombe is still writing and performing with his group Black Ivory, which are one of the only Classic Soul/R&B Groups from the 70's who are still performing with all of the original members from their first recordings.
